In farewell speech, Snowe pleads for less polarization

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Senator Olympia J. Snowe said she remains hopeful that the Senate can overcome excessive political partisanship.

By David SharpAssociated Press
December 14, 2012

PORTLAND, Maine — With her entire staff on the Senate floor and her husband watching from the gallery, Senator Olympia J. Snowe delivered a plea to her colleagues Thursday to overcome “excessive political polarization’’ to work together to reach consensus on the ‘‘fiscal cliff’’ and other important issues.

The Maine Republican, known for her fierce independence, lamented that the Senate has evolved into something akin to a parliamentary system, where members vote in party blocs, promoting corrosive partisanship that has led only to gridlock.

‘‘I’m so passionate about changing the tenor in Congress because I’ve seen that it can be different,’’ she said. “It hasn’t always been this way. And it absolutely does not have to be this way.’’

Snowe shocked the political establishment in February when she abruptly ended her bid for a fourth term, a race that she would have easily won. She cited partisan gridlock in the Senate and House as a key reason for retiring.

Snowe served for 34 years in Congress, including three terms in the Senate.

She is the third-longest-serving woman in congressional history.

Snowe is married to John McKernan, former governor of Maine.

Snowe said she inherited a legacy of bipartisanship and independence from the late Maine senator Margaret Chase Smith, who is remembered for her ‘‘Declaration of Conscience,’’ speech attacking McCarthyism.

Snowe focused on something that she found to be important more than 60 years later: a lack of civility and excessive partisanship that she says prevent the Senate from accomplishing the Founding ­Fathers’ ideals.

She repeatedly pointed to examples of senators working together in the past.

‘‘Our problems are not insurmountable, if we refuse to be intractable,’’ she said. “It is not about what’s in the best interests of a single political party, but what’s in the best interests of our country.’’